of the staff of tampa catholic looking for an excused absence because he was here watching "way too early" at "morning joe." i can give you my signature. i bet joe and mika will sign it. you are also looking for governor christie's. >> we can sign this. >> we will sign anything. we will get it for mika and joen it but you're also looking for governor cristie's signature. how about one quick e-mail. >> sam in connecticut writes woke up looking for you to bring the long island geist tea and looks like all you're drinking is coffee. >> this is the drink here, the long island geist tea.

it's pungent. it's delightful. "morning joe" starts right now. >> some people in your party don't like you. are you a candidate for the entire republican party? >> well, we're a big party. i don't know how many hundred million people or so are republican and i'm not sure that everybody's going to think i'm the ideal person but i'm going to be the nominee, i believe, as of the end of this week and we're going to come together. and the people who are really open to voting to me that i need to get to vote for me to win the presidency are independence and democrats who have been disappointed by the last four years. >> good morning. it is tuesday. we're live again this morning at how will at the moon, aka the morning joe bar. can i ask you a question? >> yes.

>> what are these people doing here? it is so early. >> i have no idea. seriously. are you all sober? she's not sure. >> this is why we're doing it as a bar because we get the carryovers from the night before. >> we're desperate, be honest. it's day two, which is really day one of the republican national convention. we're going to get to the details of the first action-packed day of the rnc in just a moment, including our revealing interview with governor chris christie from the convention floor ahead of his key note tonight. and we'll get the latest on isaac, threatening a direct hit to new orleans. with us is mark halpern, nbc political analyst john heilemann and political editor for the huffington post sam stein. >> what was your take from dave

one, mark halpern? >> that the republicans left a big news vacuum that the storm filled and i think from a nurse perspective yesterday, they didn't have a great day but i think they're poised to have a good day it had. if nothing intercedes, the speeches from ann romney and chris christie will be good. >> john heilemann, what did you take away from day one? >> no one who was not drunk -- >> you'll fit right into our audience. >> i agree with what he said. these are professional people and if nothing intercedes, they'll put on a visually compelling tableau for the convention. >> it's higher than seven feet and they don't have wood

panelling there. >> they're all pretty jazzed up. neff want to see some speech, some red meat. yesterday was kind of boring becaubut that's because there was no events. >> willie, other than your six and a half hour dinner. >> the steak house, man! >> did you eat? really? >> yeah, byrnes steakhouse. >> it's a long meal but it's worth every bite. >> packed. >> packed. >> did you sit in a dessert pod? >> yes. >> you go upstairs and then you like sit in a pod and you can get music blasted in. it was amazing. homemade macadamia nut ice cream. i really enjoyed my time here. >> you also picked up three pounds. >> the postponement of the first day makes this convention more, sighting because now you have

ann romney, chris christie on the same day. every day is condensed. every day means something. >> it will be reader's digest version of the convention. i'm very excited about it. i can tell you are, too. >> no, actually, it was really fun talking to chris christie. we'll have his interview coming up. i think he might be making people nervous, just a tad bit. >> said he was probably going to go off the teleprompter. >> they brought all four kids, great family experience. i think it will be a pretty compelling speech tonight. >> and he is relaxed about it. >> he's ready. >> in fact, he's looking forward to it. >> yes, he is. we'll show you our interview with him. mitt romney will be in tampa tonight as his wife delivers her speech. that will be interesting to hear from ann romney, whether or not she can address perhaps issues pertaining to women and refocus the narrative for republicans toward women. with the election now 70 days

away, there are new poll results out of two key battle ground states. in florida, a cnn/orc survey has president obama leading with 50% and romney with 46%. it is within the 5% margin of error. and in north carolina, where the democratic convention will be, 48% mitt romney, 47 obama. there are new signs of the romney/ryan strategy of attacking obama on medicare may be working. a "washington post"/abc polls asks who do you trust more to handle medicare? romney holds a narrow lead, though still within the margin of error. the same question by cnn/or rc shows a stat cal tie, obama 49%,

romney 48%. >> i think it's telling as you couple things but i'm curious, mark halpern, what do you think? is it the 30-second ad, is it paul ryan? what has closed this gp ap so quickly? >> republicans were more excited about those numbers than the horse race number, which showed a tie race. they almost don't care what's doing it. the bigger thing is they want momentum and party unity and not being afraid coming out of florida, to say we can fight on this issue, to have a shared confidence that is not going to kill them. i think the commercial played a role but so has been being unified and linking obama to the

medicare cuts. >> i was distressed in '95 when bill clinton used the slowdown in medicare spending to demagogue the republican congress i was a part of. i was distressed in 2010 when republicans used mediscare to win a lot of seats. this 30-second ad, the second we all saw it on set, we all said the same thing, it may not be right but it is good, it is effective. and these numbers show this is it why it is so hard for either party to touch medicare. >> it's an amazing thing. you just pointed out mediscare have been used by both party in different elections. this is an election we'll see it used by both party against each other in the same election. it's historically unprecedented. up still have to look at that florida number. you have the numbers that show romney on the move on the medicare thing making up ground but you still have obama in a

rare position for him at 50. there aren't that many places where he's at 50 or above and in florida now it's 4 points within the margin of error but that obama campaign has to look at that 50% number, a state romney must win to get the election. florida is looking better for the obama campaign today than it looked three months ago where nerp very concerned about florida. so there's a little bit of good news in that poll, on a slew of issues for the democrats. >> what do the democrats think, operatives, people online, liberal bloggers who squealed with delight when paul ryan was selected because they said now we're going to go kill him on medicare and the numbers have reversed? >> i think it's cause for concern for these people and i think this gets to what romney can do with his money, which is you can neutralize issues like this, in addition to playing in different states. my colleague was reporting they think the most effective thing is not to criticize people for

cutting medicare. people don't believe a democratic president will cut medicare. but when they say paul ryan and mitt romney have a plan to save medicare over the long term, that's what persuades people. the one this evening i would say for caution is that i think the obama campaign has been sort of reserving itself to actually do their medicare ad post-convention. i don't think they wanted to have that fight preconvention, they were going to let the romney people go at it but i think they're going to be doing a lot of ads. >> let me ask you as a florida guy, how concerned you'd be. this is must win. we talked about michigan and pennsylvania probably being out of play at this point for republicans. if he loses florida, he can't win. where do you think he sits right now? >> any time a republican is behind in florida at this stage of the campaign, i'm concerned. i mean, i'm concerned if i'm a

romney operative because you got rick scott, who is an extremely conservative governor. you've got a florida legislature that's one of the most conservative in the country. i mean, florida is not really a swing state if you look at statewide elections and the fact that mitt romney is still not connecting should be a real concern to him. we've got a long way to go. florida is it a state, by the way, where you win on tv in 30-second ads. it is massive and you've got to give the advantage moneywise to the romney people. >> how many different targets are in florida, too? >> 87. i just made that number up. >> you would know, you're from florida. >> no, you just look at the big markets, you look jacksonville, tampa, st. pete, you look at southwest florida, you look at miami, at tallahassee, of course pensacola. there are so many markets that those 30-second ads, you can

bury your opponent. i think in florida if it's close, whoever has the most money the end probably wins. or this medicare -- or we can even say this mediscare ad is working. >> frustrating for the obama campaign because they feel perhaps more attention was given to ads that didn't air. >> we're talking about the medicare ad now that aired. >> finally, after it made a dent in the poll. that's true. >> what's true? >> we talked about an ad that didn't air. >> mika is living in the past. >> but these polls are a result of this to an extent of the reaction to the ad and the ad that we did not cover. >> who is tonight's key note speaker? >> am i wrong? >> no, you're right. >> thank you. >> well -- >> sorry. >> just because we're here i didn't take a republican stupid pill. i mean seriously. >> wow.

>> what? >> you are so off the mark -- >> am i off the mark? >> no! >> speaker governor chris christie is dismissing a report which claims he -- see, i just cut that applause for you. it was about to go to a groundas well. but chris christie is dismissing a remark, isn't he? >> yes, he is. it was a report that perhaps romney can't win the election and that may have impacted the decision he made. sources say according to the new york post that he turned down a vice president role because he didn't feel romney could win. >> a lot of people will be chattering about the "new york post" article today, claiming that you don't think that mitt romney can win. >> just completely shoddy reporting. much of what was said in that story just wasn't true. and they never talked to me. so both those folks know me.

if they wanted to talk to me, they could have. >> so you think mitt romney can win? >> i think he's going to win. >> yeah? >> yeah. i do. i guess they needed something to write since the convention was cancelled for monday. >> the "new york post" article today, you said it was shoddy reporting but also the headline is deeply personal. does that sting? >> i don't let it sting, joe. i just don't. i talked to mika about this for her book and i just don't let it get to me anymore. i understand that people who engage in that kind of stuff are so shallow and so narrow and don't understand the issues that go along with good health and weight loss and all that. no, i don't let it bother me. >> we're going to play our entire interview with governor chris christie coming up a little bit later on morning show. he shot it down a couple of times during that interview on the floor. >> the "new york post" reported yesterday that he didn't want to be vice president because he

didn't think mitt romney could win. he says the two reporters didn't call him. have you heard any reporting like this? >> if you think back to when he decided not to run for president, there was reporting at the time that one of the reasons he was reticent about that was he thought republicans in general had a very poor chance to beat president obama so he had some sense that republicans were doing it but it was going to be an uphill battle. i don't know what his thinking is at the moment. there's no question that governor krischristie, unlike s republicans, all thought obama was a favorite to win the election. it's not totally inconsistent from the past. >> chris christie has somehow been able to walk a fine line. weep heard some people suggest he was not conservative enough to win the republican nomination if he had won. i think that's ridiculous.

but he somehow manages to get the support of tea party faction and mainline republicans. do you suspect he's going to knock one out of the park tonight? >> i do. one of the themes and story lines of this convention is the changing republican party. the establishment is still a huge part of it, that your running this convention. mitt romney is mostly an establishment figure and so is chris christie, governor of new jersey. the reason he's such a big star in the party is he also speaks the tea party. he can go like barack obama in 2007 and 2008 could go to any state in the union and speak to a divorce crowd. christie can do that, too. yesterday i was talking to him about his speech, i said you better be worried, there could be hueckling from the wyoming delegation and he said, oh, i'm big in wyoming, they like me." i think 90% of the people will

have never seen him in person, never seen him give a speech. they're going to be blown away by the sustained communication, humor and the themes that he's got. >> i agree, willie. it going to be something. >> it's going to be a good speech. back to the "new york post" story. i had an exclusive with jim vandehei this morning. >> oh, miery god. >> how is vandehei? person? >> he's the same person as he is on tv. jim was saying the reporter who did the "new york post" story is wired into the christie campaign. he broke the news that christie would be giving the keynote address. there could be something to the story, though chris christie denies it. >> he says the reporters didn't call him and ask them and apparently he called them afterward and it was not too

pretty. >> i'm sure it was a wonderful conversation. >> you look at chris christie, the keynote speak from her new jersey, you have a governor of massachusetts at the top of the ticket, you have a vice presidential candidate from wisconsin. this is not a regional republican party anymore. it's sort of breaking out of the deep south for the first time. >> it's not the texas, bush. i'm curious to see what christie does with his speech. the easy thing would do would be to take shot after shot of obama. i wonder if christie is going to try to wrinkle in something like the 2004 speech in there but i doubt it. it could be an opportunity to do something nontraditional and use

it as a launching pad for years to come. >> he's smart enough to look bat to see what barack obama did in 2004 and launch his presidential campaign. >> he's got almost like three different audience, one in the hall, one is the republican party and the other is the nation in general. that's what obama did in four was he gave a speech that satisfied all three of those constituency. that's what made him a national figure. most people in the america haven't heard chris christie either so there's going to be a big, wide audience here, if mitt romney does lose in 2012, chris christie will almost certainly be running in 2016. this is in some ways his introduction to the country. >> because of that i don't think we're going to see chris christie as an attack dog. if heap pokes at the president it, will be just that, sort of good natured ribbing like reagan

when he went after democrats. >> one way i think he's underrated as a communicator because so many of that attention goes to the youtube clips where he does snap at people. he is a happy warrior. very optimistic, very upbeat and rhetorically with broad appeal. >> you shouldn't underestimate the wyoming delegation. they can get pretty nasty. >> they're noted hecklers. >> all right. the other big story this morning, hurricane isaac is expected to be a big threat for the ghost. let's go to bill karins on that. >> good news on the front of intensity. we're wee still have 12 to 18

hours to go before it makes landfall. for that reason we never give up on these storms. i'll tell you why in a second. right now it's only about 200 miles away from new orleans. winds are at 70 miles per hour. it's at strong as you get for a tropical storm. it almost at hurricane strength. just in the last couple frames, this is finally starting to look like a hurricane. if you look right at the center of the screen, this is an eye of what appears to be the storm right in the middle, a well defined eye. on the northern half of the storm, the southern part is impressive. why hasn't it developed up to this point? dry air has been working into the storm. >> on the northern gulf can thank that dry air. that's why we're not dealing with a hurricane as of yet. we still expect it to become a hurricane in the days ahead. the radar, not too impressive. just a few bands of rain.

the southern side has all the rain, the north side a lot of wind. we're looking for a category 1 hurricane to make landfall just south of new orleans through the night tonight. the biggest concern are the areas unprotected by the levees. the levees and pumps should be fine with a category 1 storm. as joe knows from living on the gulf coast, you don't give up on these storms until they move on shore. >> still ahead, we'll have senator ron johnson of wisconsin, anti-tax crusader grover norquist. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe ".

♪ oh, thunder road, thunder road ♪ hey. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations. with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever. ♪

25 past the hour. there's a look at the convention floor. let's take a look at the morning papers. we'll start with the "atlanta journal constitution." four army soldiers are accused of killing a fellow soldier and his girl friend to cover up their involvement in a home grown terror plot. prosecutors say the militia was made up of active and former military members and spent many on guns and bomb making materials. several of the soldiers were

stationed at fort stewart. >> and rob portman will be playing barack obama. >> and new york's attorney general is investigating top energy drink manufacturers ovth they may have made misstatements about what was contained in energy drinkdrinks. >> are you telling me 5 hour energy is not legit? my world is crushed. >> five hours of increasing your chances of becoming obese. >> that hurts. >> after winning a $1 billion

patent lawsuit over samsung over smart technology, apple may be setting its sightson -- sights on google. samsung said it's going to fight this thing. >> it has to or it's over. >> no doubt about it. you wonder whether all these other companies will come together now and try to stop apple from having a monopoly. >> it looks like they're going to. >> it's $1 trillion taken out of samsu samsung. i don't know how they survive that. >> oh, my gosh! >> the executive editor of political. >> if i hang out here long enough -- >> fine, fine, jim, come on. >> he's not wearing his tux today. >> i'm just trying to set the

standard. i feel like we've made some progress. >> we're working on it. sam looks pretty good. >> have i a job interview later. >> let's just button up the chris christie story. the "new york post" story says chris christie never wanted the job because he didn't think mitt romney can win. some, including the governor, have dismissed it. what do you know. >> one is has he told people he doesn't think mitt romney can win? i think almost every republican has probably suggested that. there are different accounts we're getting about how close christie was to actually getting the vice presidential pick. one of the problems and one of the things that's confusing the reporting is one of the this evenings the romney camp didn't realize early on was that if you pick a governor, that governor was going to probably have to step down as governor, wouldn't be able to do things simultaneously because of s.e.c. laws, wouldn't be able to go out

and do fund-raising because that money would be able to influence them as governor. >> the reporter knows it -- >> he's a good reporter. you don't call the candidate and governor himself, you're going to call the people around him and stress test it. in is a reporter would a good track record. he has to dismiss it. what's he going to tell you guys, i don't think the guy can win? i'm speaking tonight. >> mitt romney said "i am who i am" but you're reporting republican strategists like karl rove who thinks romney's team still needs to work on that image. >> i don't think it's smart to say focus on the economy, on obama. there has to be this dimension that people feel some connection to the candidate.

haley ba haley barbour and rove think you're an old, rich, weird dude. you've got to be able to change that. that dimension matters in politics. >> an old, rich, weird dude. >> i guess the real pop eye quote is i am what i am not i am who i am. he's incorrectly quoting pop eye. >> what would that mean exactly for him to introduce himself on a more personal level? what should he say? >> everyone would say -- there are dimensions to him. there's been some interesting reporting. there was a piece in the post last week and certainly the book down by the reporters in the "boston globe." there are a lot of instances, particularly in his capacity as a church leader where he did a lot for people and didn't seek any credit. he's a generous person, gives a lot to his church, they give a

lot to other areas. there are areas where he wasn't mr. fix it and did super duper well at bain. i think for some politics it's impossible to break through. john kerrey couldn't, al gore couldn't. they're missing a gene. you want something in between. barack obama at a personal level might not have that natural political gene but he's able to turn it on when needed. >> a super human gene with great complexities attached. >> mutations of all genes, right? >> you said it, not me. >> the thing about mitt romney is i understand what karl rove is saying but you sat down with him in an interview. you said even when it was just you two guys, you didn't say weird but he's different than any other politician. he's just sort of distant and, you know, it's very interesting

when we interview him on set, a lot of times you'll interview people on set and they'll be a bit more stiff on set and then they get offset and they relax. people ask what are they like when they're offset. mitt's not that way. we've interviewed him several times. he gets offset and actually he's just as -- he's just the same offset. in fact, i was thinking he seemed a little more uncomfortable offset than he did on set. >> i'd love for mark to weigh in on this. i'm not arguing that it good or bad. i'm just saying it's really different. there are just little things. pull back the curtain on reporting. reporters are like neb elanybod, stroke them a little bit, it's good to see you again. he doesn't do anything of those things, like talk up to off the record. there are tricks can you do to

listen people up, he doesn't do it. >> as other reporters have, i've had a five-year running dialogue with people around mitt romney, including his family, people who worked with him at bain capital. to say what is it that you all see in him that is different, one of the challenges of this convention, maybe the main one beside governor romney's speech is for ann romney, including the other speakers to talk about that and try to convey it to the country in a way where people say i get it, i get what this guy's like. the romney haters hate when i say this. there's no doubt he is funnier, mr interesting, more interested in other people than he conveys even sitting one-on-one in an interview with a reporter, let alone on television. they have to bring that across. car rove and haleighly barbour

are right, it not optional. >> can i make a defense of romney? he's probably operating in an age where it so much more difficult to be spontaneous, outgoing. he's been burned so many times by perceived gaffes that he's probably introverted about it. he probably wants to step away from that and not make any errors. i get what the campaign is doing when they say he is who he is. it didn't work. you no you want the boring guy who can fix things. i don't think that's a bad sale to the -- >> unless he puts something on the table during the interview. there's this obsession with learning more about him because you don't get anything. >> am i doing it again? >> what do you mean you don't get anything? >> tell me what you feel about what he believes. >> here is somebody who thinks really, really hard about how do

you run something and how do you run it effectively? >> so how will he run this country effectively? what information you have -- >> he would say there is a management style to the office. like, one, bringing in people who just aren't in politics, aren't just in washington. two, running it with some efficiency. he would say i want truly to have metrics. i'll give you a checklist. he'll say most politicians make promises. i'm saying i'm going to physically give you a card and score me for the first hundred days think about if you score most people in their first hundred days, they almost always fail to push everything they promise to push. it's not that he doesn't have a theory of the case. we're not used to it. most people have a political theory of the kashs not a management -- >> he's promised to be a budget cutter and he's not giving you any details.

>> to answer mika's question earlier, what are you going to get when you get mitt romney, you're going to get a fix-it guy. if somebody comes into his office, he's not going to be like blill clinton. there's not go to be late-night bull sessions. he's not going to be like fdr and play all sides at once and skillfully manipulate everybody that comes in to see him to think he's with them and then be able to turn the corner. you're going to get a guy that is a no-nonsense guy that's driven by data. i personally have no doubt, even though i think he's stiff and awkward politically and i have real concerns about him whether he's ideologically conservative enough on small government issues for me, i have no doubt in my mind, just speaking for

myself, that he would be a good president in the mold of dwight d. eisenhower. is he john kennedy? eisenhower said the thing he was most proud of was he objective. he angered conservatives, he angered liberals. i think mitt would be a very competent president. >> i just looking for this hunger for more this evening -- >> maybe that's not who he is. >> that's very unquenchy. >> i don't know if that's a word. >> it is. you're just left wanting a lot

more. >> you quench me. don't ever say that again. >> still ahead, political strategists. our good friend mike murphy joins the conversation here in tampa. and michael steele, the man who put us here in tampa and the moderator of "meet the press" david gregory will be here to how will at the moon. ♪ does he know that i mean what i say ♪ this is the plan that revolves around you.

introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. tap into a single pool of shareable data and add up to 10 different devices, including smartphones and tablets. the first plan of its kind. share everything. only from verizon. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr.

humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

♪ ♪ >> tampa bay rays hanging around near the top of the wild card standings, only three and a half games behind the yankees in the division, the rays were out of town facing the rangers in arlington, texas. evan longoria sneaks one inside the foul pole here. nice crowd on the hand, by the way. tied at 3 in the fifth, adrian beltr beltre. this guy is on fire. rangers go up two runs. rays did come back to tie it at

5. in the fifth, beltre again, a single to left, brings home the go-ahead run. that was enough for the rangers. they beat the rays 6-5. with the loss the rays find themselves the odd man out of the wild card race opinion the as and orioles up there at the top. >> sam stein's favorite pitcher, josh beckett, making his first start in dodger blue since being isn't over in the mega trade from boston. very first batter. oh, boy. that's not good. that's an upper deck shot at coors field. that's really hard to do. >> can we replay that on slow motion? >> the fried chicken grease when it slips off the hand. >> he lasted just 5 2/3. dodgers lost 10-0. what did you think about the trade by the way? >> at first i was a little

upset. i like adrian gonzalez so much as a player. then i realized they were getting rid of $200 million plus. sometimes you have to start over. now they just have to get rid of bobby valentine. >> what? >> for the red sox, this is a drain. i liked adrian gonzalez a lot, too, he was not happy in boston. >> he ruined the atmosphere in the clubhouse. >> think of what they can do over the next free years, building. free agent crops where they can have their pick of the litter. >> but they have to stay smart. >> that's why i say pick of the litter. >> this is one time the red sox had dove in and paid tom dop do

and they got burned by it. >> they went for the yankee strategy. the phone call from the red sox to the dodgers went something like will you guys take adrian gonzalez off our hand? sure we'll take him off your hands. >> we want carl crawford. they just unloaded their whole team. >> mika's opinion pages are next. ♪ ♪ t dog.

every bite goes above and beyond the call of deliciousness. that's a big 10-4 kosher. with no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better-than-a-hot dog- hot dog.

[ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we understand that commitment. and always have. so does aarp, an organization serving the needs of americans 50 and over for generations. so it's no surprise millions have chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help cover some of the expenses medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to find out more, request your free decision guide. call or go online today. after all, when you're going the distance, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long.

to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for nine years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. time now for the must-read

opinion pages. we're going to go to the "new york times." and this is about mitt romney and the convention. "romney's political ascent and presidential campaign tell the remarkable tale of a suitor profoundly ill suited to the seduction at hand, the salesman whose enthusiasm has seldom been instantly or expansively resip profession -- reciprocated. and despite the fact that most of his supporters, including most republicans aren't so much swooning as settling for him. that's worth remembering over the next few days when hard partying partisans here will do a pantomime.

>> he's a data guy. he knows people don't love him. he doesn't seem to care so much. he's not within the seduction business but he's within inches of the most powerful office of the land. it's pretty compelling for a guy not good at the game to get there. he figured out how to get there. >> then again, look at the field. >> he got lucky in the sense that a lot of people who would have been formidable challengers decided not to run. opportunism in politics is a powerful force. he picked the right time and has made the most of the opportunity

in front of him. >> maybe the characteristic, though, is perseverance. he was rejected in 2008 and came back and did it again. he suffered setbacks along the way. >> but that's when they improve as candidates. >> i think i have seen over the past week or two since he selected paul ryan, i think we've seen mitt romney get much better. i think he's much more relaxed. it sounds silly but you even see it in the still photos of him that the guy seems to be more comfortable in his skin. the night of the new hampshire primary, everyone was saying this guy can't give a speech, he's stiff, awkward. he might be a likable guy but he's a terrible politician. even after the victory speech in

new hampshire people said, wow, he's pretty good. >> i think you're compensating. >> what's that? >> think about like hillary clinton as she progressed just through the primaries, how amazing she became as a candidate. >> how amazing she became. not in the course of weeks. i remember seeing hillary clinton in 2007 at the is it jackson jefferson -- jefferson jackson dinner in iowa and she was wearing what looked like a a doyly around her america, she was shrieking. i sat there saying, my god, this woman will never, ever win an election. and a year later i couldn't stop talking about how she was one of the toughest, best, most inspiring, most nimble politicians i'd seen in years. they can get better. mitt, though -- >> doesn't. >> no, no, this is an important point. the reason why mitt romney has not gotten better is that he

didn't have anybody to go up against. if newt gingrich challenged him in a debate and beat him in a debate, if newt gingrich beat him on the campaign trail, all he would do is write a check, the 30-second ads were there and newt gingrich was overtaking him right before iowa. he buried newt gingrich with an of a ranch of 30-second ads. the same thing happened in north carolina. and the same thing happened again. it did not make him better. the primaries made hillary phenomenal. didn't make him any better. >> who to do with the field. still ahead -- >> can i ask a question? david brooks what was he trying to do -- >> there's been almost -- have i not read it. i'm sitting down to read it right away.

>> it makes my teeth hurt. did you have read it? >> i'm waiting for john to read it as well. >> what do you think? >> i think he's making fun of us. >> republican strategist mike murphy will join us on set. you're watching "morning joe" a special edition live from tampa. ♪ house the people living in the street, oh, there's a solution ♪ on every one of our cards there's a date. a reminder... that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members.

american express. welcome in. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air.

there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪

♪ ♪ billionaire oil tycoons charles and david koch and their special- interest friends are spending $400 million to buy this year's elections and advance their agenda. what's their payback? politicians who will pass laws that benefit special interests, but hurt the middle class; more tax cuts for the rich, eliminate the minimum wage, big cuts to our schools, but big subsidies for oil companies, learn what you can do at...

♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way of my busy lifestyle. that's why i take care, with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare.

vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain, or become constipated for three or more days. vesicare may cause blurred vision, so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. i've worked hard to get to where i am... and i've got better places to go than always going to the bathroom. so take charge of your symptoms by talking to your doctor and go to vesicare.com for a free trial offer. trick question. i love everything about this country! including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this great land of ours has to offer like demolition derbies. and drive thru weddings. so if you're one of those people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day, block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning.

24 hours. zero heartburn.

we both love costco. >> why? >> have you ever been to it? >> yeah. >> she got me one of these three-pack of shirts at costco. the kirkland shirts. >> yeah, that looks pretty good. i got it at costco. >> wow. top of the hour. live from the republican national convention in tampa, florida. >> mika, i have a question for you. what's this costco place? >> i know about costco. you are not allowed in. give me your money. >> i don't have a card. why do they do that? they don't have to do that. >> i do know costco because my husband's obsessed with it. he roams the halls of costco for

hours. >> gets the detergent in bulk. >> comes back with $ 500 worth of stuff we need. >> i lovecost co and i use kirkland batteries. i'm not sure if i'd wear kirkland shirts. >> the need to say it is an issue we were talking about last hour. >> i think it's all actually true. there's no question that it's true. it just that it doesn't have the ring of truth. it looks like they're pressing. >> maybe that's it. that's a much better way of putting it. >> one of the secrets to really rich people is they're kind of frugal. i have no friend with my old friend mitt haggling offer a palette of dog food at costco.

>> good morning, guys. you're on west coast time. >> i've ready for reverend moon to come by and give me a few ideas i'm so out of it. >> you have got to be hurting. how is the republican party? how are we doing this year as we go into a convention with a candidate that truthfully none of you like very much b-- you l lot of paper in the party never liked. >> now he's got the republican nomination, which is an extremely valuable commodity. the convention is where the party stuff goes in the rear view mirror. if you look at the polling, it's margin of error but romney has been doing a point, two, three points better than obama with democrats. >> with the election now 70 days away, we're getting new poll

results out of two key battle ground states. in florida, a cnn/orc survey has president obama leading with 50% support and romney with 46. the 4-point difference is within the margin of error. in north carolina where democrats will be holding their convention next week, 48 % support mitt romney, 47 for president obama. however, among independents in north carolina, romney has a sizable 13-point lead. >> michael, should republicans be concerned that their candidate is 4 points down in the sunshine state right now? >> i don't think at this point. this has gone back and forth. he was up at some points in florida, he's down right now. he's a settled kmondity now. people are ready to move forward with him, the excitement is

building, i pi you'll see the turn around. states like north carolina are in the republican play. it's an important number for a state nkd to drive that fact. it shows that on the ground, particularly with independence, he's gaining that speed. that increase pole is a good sign for them. >> we're seeing a huge turn and in the medicare numbers, i think in large part due to the 30-second ad that accused obama of taking money out of medicare. >> they have real impact. and a lot of republicans right

now are taking some solace in the fact that the numbers are as close as they are. i talked to an ohio republican yesterday who said, look, you know, romney is consistently behind by a couple of points in ohio but they think there's a lot more undecided and softly committed voters in ohio than perhaps is believed. it's why one of the two or three remaining big moments matters for romney to reach out for voters. >> if the romney team is giving up on pennsylvania and michigan, florida has to be in the romney column. >> ohio is a tough state for governor romney. some people think they may need to go back and take another look at michigan, it f they can't solve ohio. >> if you can't win aye owe, can

you win michigan? >> he's from michigan. he's very liked outside the -- i think governor romney will win the bulk of these battleground states or he's going to lose because he can't win this piece by piece. there's too many states where he's behind. >> it has to be wave. >> i think dwitsing to be a wave. i don't think they can cheri pick the electoral college at this point. let's talk about the medicare turn. a couple of weeks back, barack obama had the lead. now you've got that completely switched around, despite the fact for the past two weeks, democrats have been jumping up and down with glee, especially

progressives, with glee with the election of paul ryan. . could it just be that while americans aren't member of congress u.s. -- aren't focused on the detail, they get it. >> we are winning the first battle because we're on offense about it. there's a continuing of i we're challenging jackie chan to a fight here. look, the vosers --

>> paul ryan, what do you think of the selection? >> i'm with mark. i'm worried about ohio. i kind of liked him running the house rather than going to tune rals and belarus. he's come out of the box very well. he said in my district i start presentations sand the first thing i say is the ryan plan wouldn't affect up. don't worry about this, you're okay. afterwards a person says i paid into this program, don't mess with my medicare. the retort should be you paid in $50,000, you're getting 200,000 back. >> you're coming out way ahead. >> that congressman has to start

off with just make it clear to folks and yet he's still has people coming up to him. between the rollout and messaging and herring, whether they're 55 murphy or not. then i'd love for you to comment. i remember saying earlier for a year the media loved the nair can i have. oh, the republican party has been taken over by right wing whack owe. '94 they called us nuts, it came back at the enteparty over 2012.

you have mitt romney at the top of the ticket, paul ryan and i think al gore won. and then you've got the key note speaker tonight, chris christie, a guy who is already plus 20 in new jersey! i mean, this party, you're -- this party looks look it's. the goal the convention is to get creative and bring in new voters. it's still a center right party. it's not a totally movement conservative party across that vote. >> can i ask, though, how are they, especially in terms of their roster, going to appeal to women? what's the strategy there and don't they need to here? >> if you scientifically watch the number one issue they want elt election to be about is.

>> the most invisible group in the media are -- it's almost a 50/50 split on people who use to mack that their, women it does sell you. >> the closer you get to the people most involved in your party right or left, they tend to be more ideological. it's just kind of the nature it have. >> interesting. zen, i -- you know how much i hate talking about myself. >> i know. don't be uncomfortable but come

on, let me try and help you. >> i wrote a column again about a year ago called "crazy never wins in the republican party" because everybody was talking about how crazy the party had become. i talked about my dad, who liked ford and he liked reagan. he liked dole. he voted for mccain. i think mike brings up -- you confused me. mike brings up a great point. you've got the republican activists and these are the people, again for people at home that don't understand this, these are the people that would come into my office and they would make phone calls and put stamps on maleilers and then yo have the quiet republican voters who, like my dad, are center right. it seems to me i don't think it's at war with itself but i

think worry going to -- look, this party right now under mitt romney is a party about lower spending, job creation, repealing obama care. those are things you could say at a tea party rally and get a great reaction. one of the way governor romney is as underestimated a kaem in front of chrysanthemum. there's vulnerability for -- being for lower deficits, that is a unifying message. >> and whose name have we not heard this week? todd akins. stay away from social issues. a lot of people are telling me

even akin is going to be out of the race. >> i still think the vulnerability is there is this focus on a smaller role for government to play. and romney pushing himself as the mechanic who get things done. there cab holdness of that. it's think i where they will exploit these peaknesses. >> will live guest is standing by with what's next snp. >> yes, we'll have your interview with chris krissy. we'll hear what he to say to you coming up. >> the it's made its turn toward the gulf coast.

expected landfall in just a few minutes. we'll be back to the elephant baf live in tampa! ♪ won't you lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff ♪ [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy?

ooo no. the hotel lost our reservation. nonsense! you book at travelocity, your reservation's guaranteed. well, i did not book with travelocity, okay?!? [ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee any way you book, including our new app. you'll never roam alone. and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward.

we're live from tampa where tonight chris christie will deliver the keynote address. yesterday joe and i walked the floor with christie to discuss the presidential race, his big speech tonight and that controversial "new york post" article, questioning his report of mitt romney. that swarm of media attention

that even that casual stroll across the floor johnsgenerateda reminder of his star quality. >> how's it going? >> good. >> you feel ready? >> i'm ready. >> are you going to inform, entertain or both? >> i'm going to more inform than entertain. my style can be entertaining at times. >> really? >> yeah. i think it's my time to set out the vision for the country for the next ten years and i take that seriously. >> obviously a lot of people will be focusing on the article today, that you don't think mitt romney can win. >> a completely shoddy story. much of what they said in that story wasn't true. and they never talked to me. both of those folks know me. they never talked to me.

>> you think mitt romney can win. >> i think he's going to win. they needed something to write since we were cancelled for monday. >> when a lot of party leaders were trying to drag you into this race back in last fall, there were many people who said said you were not conservative enough to be the republican nominee. do you think the republican party you're talking to this week is -- are they christie republicans? are you the mainstream of the republican party? >> it's hard for me to judge what the mainstream is, joe. i any that's stuff other people judge. from my perspective, no matter where i travel in this country, and i've been to 30 mus states, my message is received really well everywhere i go. these are by hard core republican activists,

fund-raisers. i was talking to the speak of the the alabama house? >>y, great. speaker hubbard was talking about the roaring eagles. everywhere i've gone my message has been received really well. i think everything tries to fit you into. >> how will the convention reset the campaign? >> i think everything is going to be determined. he's going to be nominated. the majority of the party think he's good enough, conservative enough. i think his affirmation as the nominee tomorrow night will answer that question. and i think every convention has the opportunity to reset a campaign and the democrats will

have that opportunity next week. but it's going to come down down to major speeches in this convention and are those speeches and the things that we talk about, are they going to appeal to the mainstream of the country? governor romney will be the most important one. >> let's head to the state. there's no doubt the jersey crowd is a tough crowd. >> yeah, sure. >> how do you prepare for something like this? >> the way i've prepared differently that time than normal speeches that i give -- and you know i don't give a lot of prepared speeches. first of all, the writing of a text is a little different for me. i don't use text, almost never. i think about what i talk about and i get up and talk about it. >> is it going to be tough for you to be tied to a teleprompter. take bill clinton. he was much better off the top

of his head. is it going to be a little tougher for you? >> it's natural for me. my challenge up there is going to be to be i can't recall and being he said tell chris to be chris. that's what i will do. if i stray off the prompter every once in a while -- >> you're scaring him! >> we've talked a good bit in the past about how this republican party over the past 20 years has confined itself to the deep south. you look at what's happening. we've got you in new jersey, one of the most popular governors in the nation. you're plus 20 in the polls. nit mitt from massachusetts, paul ryan from wisconsin. is this a republican party that could be breaking out of that deep south strategy that they've been in answer '88?

>> i think so. if you look at some of the folks, there's also john kasich in hai ohio. you'll seeing a blind sequence of most of our governors. he what has led you to be plus from the position where minus 20 when we started it interview in 2010? >> i continue to be myself. i haven't changed since i've got in the job until now. i think what people have come to realize in new jersey is, man, he means it. >> the polls are showing you and

romney neck and neck. with the criticism of hough badly the past three years have gone, why wouldn't i admit that. i think it just a come question and say you've got to -- everybody knows the president. there's no miracle that's going to happen between now and the lebs that people say, organization i didn't know that about president obama, i'm going to vote for him. there can be moments like that for governor romney. and you're going to see romney spending a will the more money for television. >> what about women? she's doing very badly with women voters. how is he going to fix that?

>> he's got to work at it. he has to show who he is. in the end, these other guys don't matter. whether it's todd akin in missouri who is a joke and should get out of the race and everybody knows it. and i think he knows it also. he's looking for a graceful way out. and mitt romney, i don't think you talk particularly to win it. if you try to do that, you look like ul phony. >> i think you have to talk about the issues. let me say this. in my house i don't think that mary pat cares any differently of our future than i do. she wants certain core things to be good about our country. i think you need to speak to that. >> speaking of mary pat --

>> how nervous are you? is he going to be okay? >> gosh, i'm not nervous at all. >> really? >> no. excited but not nervous. >> that's fantastic. >> this is amazing. lots of people have asked me if i'm nervous and i say no because i know i won't be. i won't be nervous, i'll be anxious. i'll be like the horse in the starting get at the kentucky derby, i'll be banging up against that gate. the kid have been really involved. we did a lot of rehearsing of the speech when we were away on vacation at the jersey shore. so the kids have gotten to see it. i don't think anybody is sitting here, thinking, geez, i hope dad doesn't go up there and check. >> are the kids here? >> yes, they are. all four of them are here and they're all experiencing this. so it's really great.

so for us as a family, we say we're not nervous. we, too, look around here and say two and a half years ago -- three years ago right now obviously the worst part of my campaign against john corzine. it was negative me and cot, to think three years later i'm talking to you here as keynote speaker. >> it's got to be a thrill. >> we'll have more later, including what the first lady of new jersey had to say about that headline that's extremely insulting. >> is there a risk that chris christie does so well tonight

that he overshadows the guy we're all throwing the party for? >> i don't think so. chris is a stand alone. he generates his own interest and power. it's going to be about mitt romney. he's the deliverer for the romney message and it's going to submit that connection that the romney tea is looking for between the tiks or to be the top of the cam pan. skblip got that question about ryan. will that affect rhode island in. >> no, no, everybody should do as well as they can. you get four hours when you're running for president that really count. that speech is the first of those four. the debates are the others. romney has to do well. >> i think it's doubling it

down. i come back to the mitt mechanic. the hope is, look, these guys can actually get some things done and they've got a very details about the economy, if they can get that messenger across, and that's what people are thinking about during this convention, that's success approximately. >> we have a new poll out this morning, president obama 46%, mitt romney 45% whenasked which candidate better understands their problem? president obama, 54%, 47% mitt romney. when you think about the democratic convention, do you think oh, i wonder who the best people, who the person will be. >> they've taken a bigger risk.

that i have bill clinton's openes. don't anybody -- you think about hot speakers are. they have well known people who aren't going to be speaking. they don't have -- >> what about sarah palin? >> they have people cooperating and handing over their text. i think again from a tell call point of view, a lot of what impressed last time voters is barack obama made them think they could manage. they've come here as a matter of call call matter. barack obama is up 1 point among registered voters. >> most polls have been better

with rakely -- republicans. it's great for the republican morale to say we're not in as much of an uphill battle as we might have been. we're tied coming out of an election with opportunities and in a speech to put it over the top. >> coming up, a debt clock ticking over the hex r the rnc. keep it right here on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] whether it's kevin's smartphone...

mom's smartphone... dad's tablet... or lauren's smartphone... at&t has a plan built to help make families' lives easier. introducing at&t mobile share. one plan lets you share data on up to 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. add a tablet for only $10 per month. the more data you share, the more you save. at&t. [ chuckles ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪

welcome back to "morning joe" in tampa. not so bad today. only one water spout and a weak tornado in the tampa area.

all eyes on the gulf coast, still dealing with the tropical storm. it has a good chance of changing, upgraded to a hurricane. if you look at the satellite picture, you can see what makes out a little bit of an eye feature on this. right now 70 mile-per-hour winds, a little under 200 miles or so away from new orleans. it will slow down its forward speed. the first rain bands are trying to spiel rahal -- spiral around the gulfport. over the evening hours and overnight, that's when the strongest rains should be happening. coming up, grover norquist and

senator ron johnson live at the convention center. chase scene netflix coming soon extra butter tickets swoon penguin journey junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover.

♪ ♪ >> i'm an independent. i voted for him, i contributed to him. governor romney promised that he would bring jobs to the state. by the time governor romney left office, we had fallen to 47th in the nation in terms of job growth. governor romney cares about big business, he cares about tax cuts for wealthy people and i certainly do not believe that he cares about my hard working employees. >> i feel like i was duped by mitt romney. i'm going to vote for president obama. >> 44 past the hour. that was the new ad -- stop! what's wrong with you? >> well, the thing is when mitt

romney left massachusetts, i think unemployment was like 4.7% and they're running a super pac ad here attacking his jobs record when unemployment has been sitting, what are we at now, 8.what percent? >> health insurance just insanity to go there. >> i have a reform proposal on this. they shouldn't run ads for free unless they've been released for $5 million of spending. the pinocchio ads out there throw these ads out and bingo. >> this one they tell me they've been reserved. >> we have president of americans for tax reform, grover norquist and republican senator from wisconsin, senator ron johnson. gentlemen, welcome back to the show. >> good morning.

>> we booked grover after we saw him on the floor yesterday. >> saw him on the floor yesterday tearing it up. senator, you talked about the deficit, you talk about cutting spending. we have a deficit clock now, a national debt clock. >> hit $16 trillion. >> let me ask you, what are the republicans going to tell us this week that will ensure a conservative like myself if they get in power again, they're not going to double the national debt like they did during the bush year. the republican congress spent as recklessly as anybody else up until of course the last three years. >> one of the reasons i was so pleased about the selection of paul ryan as vice president is not on is paul just a fine man, absolutely knowledgeable about the debt and deficit -- >> comes from a great state. >> but the selection from my standpoint confirmed what i knew about governor mitt romney, he's

dedicated to solving the problem. you don't pick paul ryan if you're not serious about elevating the conversation of this campaign to be about the issues, the looming crisis facing this nation and if you're not willing to put forward serious proposals. >> when can we see a balanced budget? i think even under paul's plan, it doesn't balance until 2014. >> i was listening earlier in terms of what specific cuts. the first one is let's repeal obamacare. i want somebody to answer my question. in 2014 to deliver -- we've had plans that bounce into five years, ten years -- >> so it can be done? >> absolutely it can be done. >> one of the constraints in paul ryan's budget is he uses the cbo baseline, using growth

projections that assumes we're going to increase taxes but doesn't take the revenue from the tax increase. he's really ham strung. it's a dishonest way to take a look at it. it's just not accurate. by not growing taxes -- by not increasing the taxes, the economy -- will grow. >> grover the media, you heard democrats and a lot of moderate republicans saying we can't balance the budget in seven years. come on. we can balance the budget before 2040, right? >> the reason the democrats didn't think could you balance the budget after the 2004 election is they were trying to do it all on the spending side and didn't understand economic

growth brings in a great deal of revenue. because you cut the capital gains tax and restrained spending, you had spending way down from which president clinton had. if the economy grows at 3% a year for the next decade instead of two, the federal government walking away with $2.5 trillion. that's why ryan's tax policies are as morning as his entitlement forms. >> i'm a skipt call guy when it comes to conservative issues. i'm not saying this is going to grow the academy or not. i do remember largent, coburn and myself, mark sanford, we would fight every day to cut a million here, we did that in

'95, '96 and '97. the economy grew so fast. >> want to make the irs rich, grow the economy, make the government rich. we may get some, may win election on it. what are some good revolutionary thing we can do for growth? first of all, utilize america's emergency resources. north dakota, that economy is booming chlth. how about reducing the burden of regulations? you talk spo small, even large businesses, $1.5 trillion -- by the way, that's a larger number but all eight economies in the world. that's what we're burning job creators with each and every year. get the government off the back of job creators and institute an opportunity society where

people's aspirations drive the economy instead of government? >> reagan put a moratorium on new regulations and then went back to old ones and looked to undo them, on hampering energy production back in '81. so, you're not doing any new regulations for a year and go back and undo the ones. >> also just bring in certainty back into the equation. >> yes. >> nobody is talking about cutting taxes, unfortunately. we're saying not increase taxes. that harms economic growth. >> to balance the budget you have to cut defense spending. does it make sense for you two esteemed fiscal hawks to take money out of the budget and then lose that money, as mitt romney is proposing to do? >> grover? >> grover, we had a conversation about this yesterday. i think you and i are two small government conservatives who also believe that should apply

to foreign policy. look at the madness. and you were describing this yesterday. >> yes. >> about the defense spending and -- >> modern republican party that wants to say, look, let's limit spending, has to look at the pentagon spending with the same jaundice eye, the same seriousness and account for, as we do with teacher's spending. >> we haven't done that. >> we haven't. and we need to focus on it. >> but we're trying. >> if you're serious about national defense, you don't want to waste money there. you can't allow the democrats to say we care about poor people. we're throwing money at it and respond we care about defense, we're throwing money at the pentagon. >> the great thing that grover said yesterday is that democrats, talking about the stimulus spending on domestic. we're going to spend a lot of money on the economy, domestic economy and it's going to grow the economy magically. you talk to some republicans about defense cuts, they go, but

wait, that will cost jobs. isn't that stimulus spending on the defense side? >> it is a trop priority of government. >> it is mentioned in the constitution. >> but we've introduced a lot to audit the defense department. i've been there 19 months now. it's unbelievable the lack of control throughout all of government in terms of spending. we don't know where the money went in terms of the stimulus. remember it was supposed to be for those shovel-ready projects? >> yeah. >> that didn't happen. to try to track that down, you can't. to try to figure out where the money was spent in the pentagon it's also very difficult to do. you have to get your arms around it. it's not because it's too big. exxonmobil is a $750 billion enterprise. they get audited. so does walmart. we can and should audit the defense department. >> obviously a hero on these issues as far as cutting spending says that right now it would be impossible to audit the

pentagon, that it is so murky. >> gargantuan. >> it's not impossible. you just need the will. >> i did a little consulting work over there once. you can't underestimate the interservice rivalry. every branch wants its own air force. the army has more planes than are used. it's amazing how much internal politics drive spending. >> senator ron johnson and grover, thank you very much. >> grover has to cut out of here. >> what is this. >> he has a very important date in a couple of days. >> i know where he's going. >> oh, yes, on friday i walk my 3-year-old to her first day. >> that's more important. >> very good. this country was built by working people. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production.

we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ for real. ...that make a real difference. music: "make someone happy" ♪it's so important to make someone happy.♪ it's so important to make someone happy.♪ ♪make just one someone happy ♪and you will be happy too. hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the new depend silhouette briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too.

nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from

the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on. how about... a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service.

welcome back to tampa. we are outside the bar at the "morning joe" experience. what is the "morning joe" experience? the place you come when you want all manner of "morning joe" propaganda. look at the flair on sam's sign right now. is this in any particular order? top to bottom? >> preference. >> that's it? >> personality. >> mika, jar full of mika pair

f aphernalia. >> look at this danish. we've got the eyes. >> i'm going to punish him. >> "morning joe" cup of coffee there for you, joe. we'll bring that in to you and a "morning joe" photo booth. it's always been your dream to appear on set with me and joe and mika. can we get our photographer over here? come on in and take a shot. it's like you're on the set in new york. this is so exciting for a youngster like sam. stand on your mark. by the way, if you're in tampa and want to see "morning joe" and you can't get into the howl of the moon bar, come on out here to the boat bar and get all the flair you want. look how excited sam is. that's good. let's pull it out. can we show sam what he has won here at the carnival? got the photograph? it's coming out. you're going to have to wait a second. you won't have to wait much

longer. chuck todd, larry kudlow and eugene robinson. whoa! don't want you spilling that hot latte on my driver's seat. this is my car. who are you? i'm the second owner. the what? i will own this car after you. look, i'm not telling you how to drive our car. our car? if you're gonna have a latte in the car, keep a lid on it. it's a cappuccino. still needs a lid. [ male announcer ] the highest-quality cars plus an exceptional certified pre-owned program. good news for the second owner. take care of my car! [ male announcer ] experience the summer of audi event by september 4th with 1.9% apr for 60 months and a complimentary first month's payment on certified pre-owned audi models.

to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for nine years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. my name is adam frucci and i'm the i love new technology,om. so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. turns out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags,

and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots! is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy with a new starbucks refreshers™, in three ways. natural energy from green coffee extract, only from starbucks.

welcome back to "morning joe." >> look at sam. >> seriously, what's that food there? live at the republican national convention here in tampa, flori florida. we need to serve more healthy food. >> stop it. >> greek yogurt is here. >> i have greek yogurt. what do you have? >> the super food is not out there. >> joinings the set as you can see, political director and host of "the daily rundown" and very bad eater, chuck todd. >> not just danish, but with the the jellies, which is nothing but red sugar. >> i used to eat that way. >> yeah. >> yeah. i used to. it was an incredible time. >> jeans, no socks? >> it's florida, babe. >> msnbc political analyst and style icon. >> incredible. >> gene robinson. >> gene. >> last time in the five-year

history on "morning joe" that republicans outnumbered the democrats. >> i saw. >> it was stunning. i actually felt comfortable for a minute or two. so let's start this hour with you. >> we'll fix that. >> you fix that right now. what are you thinking about the convention right now? obviously a series of polls have come out. it is a dead heat. >> yeah. >> what are you thinking? >> this is really close. we were just talking earlier. let's get on to the mitt romney speech. let's hear it. let's hear the candidate. i'm not sure the whole rest of the convention is going to change votes. >> tom brokaw was on the other day, talking about the one-day conventions. mike was talking the same thing. do you agree with that? is that where we're going in the future? >> i think we probably are. we should do it like the oscars and there should be -- >> i like it. >> song and dance? >> there should be five vice presidential nominees, finalists. they could introduce with a

video montage, billy crystal could run around. >> and murphy had his way in 2000, he was going to do the convention. >> i had a bigger idea. >> you were going to do the vp -- >> that was, god forbid, we ever won and had to do the convention. magic trick, pick three guys. i wouldn't want to put it up for a vote. it's a television show so let's make it a better one. get the networks to give two hours, stack it up and put on a perfect two-hour show one night, boost some numbers and help the candidate. >> on ice. >> you make anything better if you say on ice. >> mike murphy, i'm just curious, he has been campaigning at least five years, longer in other forms of office. what can mitt romney do in this speech that we haven't seen before that will be -- i don't know -- new, different, enlightening that will give people a sense of who he is,

that he has, perhaps, a sense of empathy for the condition that this country is in. can he do it? >> absolutely. i don't buy this media narrative that that's an empathy contest. you i look at it as two coaches. every player cries, everybody feels good. they go back on the field and the team record is 0-34. you have another coach whose a little tougher, cuts a few slow players and sends them back for more training. record is 10-0. i think romney has to get out there and show people a forward path. biography is good but it doesn't close the deal of how he's going to put the country back to work. romney's best campaign is to sell results. barack obama can sell empathy. >> speaking of empathy, i have empathy for you, chuck todd, as a dodgers fan. congratulations on that josh beckett trade. upper deck! on a baseball that just slides -- >> particularly -- >> it was ugly. >> that's all right.

>> we've got some polls out. and cbs policy is poll is out today. registered voters have barack obama up by a point. yesterday we had the washington post/abc poll out and in there you look at the medicare question. mitt romney is ahead. >> they've had -- that was something that got lost in the storm, is that they -- for better or worse, they said, fine, we'll try to win this message war first. and the obama campaign, by the way, was a week late, i thought. you would agree about this. i was surprised -- >> here is the lesson. romney 45, obama, 42. >> i was surprised that it took the obama campaign a week to come out with their first medicare ad. and they did. it was the aarp spot. they said they we wanted to make sure we got it right the first time. we didn't want to go out there

too quickly and mess it up. >> i was spriesd at the turnaround. were you surprised it turned around that quickly? >> when you look at how well the republicans have driven the medicare narrative the last ten days or two weeks, they've been winning in the -- obama campaign had been saying this to us, we think we're winning right now the medicare message. i still say let's see what happens. you're fighting into a draw. you're spending time fighting it to a draw. is that what you want to be spending time doing? by the way, on this -- as you were discussing, this romney and empathy, and all this stuff. i swear the l.a. convention in 2000, before al gore's thursday night speech, we were having the same conversation. what is it about al gore that we don't already know? what new can he do? what did he do? gave the convention speech of his life. bob dole did the same thing. people forget, bob dole maybe gave the best speech he ever gave of his life.

let's not assume there's not new things that can happen. >> and, of course, greatest example we've been talking about peggy newman's speech for george h.w. bush in '88. that was a speech that really moved the meter. >> and, you know, the two examples chuck cited as well, both dole and gore occasionally had done good enough speeches. i don't think 41 ever had done a speech lianything like that. and, again, just from talking to some of the people around governor romney, communicating with him this week, i think his head is in the right place to do this. one of the things he is underestimated about, he knows why he's running. what's animating him now is the original thing that got him in the race. he's about to take off. their plane may have just taken off. flying down here. he will be here on the ground for a day. his sons are down here, grandchildren, a lot of them are already here. that will put him in a frame of

mind where he can deliver. as i understand, the speech is pretty well as written. it will be a matter of him performing it. interview with scott pele where they talked about new stuff, so new that at one point ann romney told a pretty emotional stuff about their past and governor romney said he had never heard that story. so it's new stuff for him, there should be new stuff for the country. >> al gore did not become president and peggy noonan did not write the speech. >> you're saying peggy didn't write romney's speech? >> right. >> gore won the popular vote. >> people forget -- >> he didn't become president. >> in a moment like this and they both -- al gore turned his campaign around with a one-two punch of lieberman and figuring out how to define himself as his own man. it's as good of a convention speech of getting out of this

box that he was in for a long time. >> if you sit back, the real battlefield of this campaign is both sides providing new information about romney. the obamas are baked in i like to think that he's in second place but nobody's in first place. romney has to move from third to first. the obama campaign is all about providing new bad information about romney from their point of view and the romney campaign has to provide new information about romney and romney himself, through that speech, has the biggest microphone moment. if he uses it well, he will be in a stronger position. >> what does it say in an election that was supposed to be a referendum on barack obama, handling the economy, is now a referendum on mitt romney and his suitability to be president. >> we have to make sure that we don't make the mistake of always acting like the election day is tomorrow. this is a multi-step process. i'm frankly ignoring all these polls until october 1st. we've got a lot of stuff that

has to happen. they're fun i have to admit, i'm reading them all. >> i was going to say september 15g9. >> i'll meet you halfway at the 19th. >> two weeks, ten days for both conventions. >> and advertising. >> yes. >> brass knuckles about hurricane politics. there's been a lot of focus on how this has hurt the republicans. i think it's hurt the democrats because it's very hard for an incumbent president's campaign when he has to be worried about running fema and all of that. joe biden was supposed to be here. he to cancel. their hands are kind of tied and it gives republicans a cleaner shot to get their message out. the obama campaign, the white house, is very good at bracketing and driving a message. >> let's talk, gene, about medicare. more precisely, mediscare. i was enraged of what bill clinton and the democrats did to us in 1995. it was dishonest. we were presenting number that is bill clinton had proposed a

year before and all of a sudden we want to throw granny into the speech. small government tea party types used medi-scare to win a lot of seats and right now romney's 30 second medicare campaign ad, as mike and ike said, it's medi-scare as well. it is so depressing. this is why both parties are afraid to touch the biggest program and the program that will bankrupt us fastest in the federal government. >> it is the only thing i heard about yesterday. i had breakfast with a bunch of the romney people and later went over to the university. >> how was that? >> oh, it was -- >> immediately? >> yes. >> trapper keeper they gave you with calista's picture on it. >> it was -- and it was all about medicare. it was all about how -- and i didn't know this before, but gop is the party of the great society.

it must have been president goldwater who signed medicare into law. it's incredible. >> they're attacking their own ideology when they attack the president on medicare. >> they are. >> that's -- look, it's good focus group. it's good politics as far as moving numbers. we're seeing the evidence of it now. but they're doing -- he slowed the growth in the out years which is the same thing you talk about. >> it's all we talk about, slow ing the growth of medicare. now they're running 30-second ads, which basically has stiff armed the obama campaign. and if the obama campaign -- i've got to say, if they're smart, they're thinking about a fall campaign that's not going to focus on medicare, because that 30-second ad is devastating and you can't get around it, whether it's demagogueing or not. >> they're taking advice from the beatles, whatever gets you

through the night. >> was it a good idea -- >> i don't think so. >> we score all these bad -- >> in the history of american politics, i've never been able to find from either party a single honest television commercial about medicare. why? it's voter kryptonite. it's about giving more and taking less. >> entitlements. >> but for the campaign the incentives are to get the election -- >> the sad thing about our society and politics is it's easier to say i'm going to cut entitlements for the people who actually need them, the poor and -- that's good politics, to attack that. it's bad politics to say, hey, the middle class entitlement fol folks, we might have to trim around the edges. >> mark halpern, you mentioned this interview with scott pele. just wondering, do you take anything away, the timing of this -- the content of this interview? >> they're doing a lot of

interviews. and i think to some extent just driven by the fact that reporters are asking more questions that are more biographical, more about their backgrounds. maybe they're feeling a bit emotional. i don't know. i do know most people have not seen this side of the romneys. it's a sad story about their family, but the reality of the politics is it is people are going to see a family unit in this interview and others that different from what people have experienced. >> mika, there is something about these conventions where every four years a politician turns into something bigger and that's what the convention process is all about. and i think it is a rite of passage and maybe the the romneys are feeling a bit more emotional, like barack obama did when he realized that it was going to happen and he teared up with his wife and hugged her, because he understood they were about to go into a strange new land, so to speak.

so it's just a dramatic transformation. i think it would make anybody emotional. >> we have it. i'm not sure that's -- i want to take a look at it first. >> don't be cynical. >> i'm going to try not to be. here they are. >> he walked in the door and he was about 10, 11 years old and he fell on the floor and just burst into tears. and the poor little kid had been at school all day long, holding this sorrow inside of him. and having no one to speak to, no one to comfort him, no one to explain what was going on. and i just felt, you know, that unfortunately that was a moment that we should have prepared them better for something like this. and it just didn't happen. it slipped through our fingers. and i told craig then, i said, you know, craig, you know, you're probably not going to have another little brother or sister in your life but you'll have children of your own some day and this little hole will be filled by that. and the interesting thing, he married a woman who had younger -- much younger brothers and when i saw craig playing with those younger brothers, i

thought to myself, isn't life interesting? he got those little brothers. he had to just wait a while. >> governor, you look like you haven't had heard that story before. >> i hadn't heard the story about craig coming home from school that day and being so devastated. i'm not surprised. he is a very tenderheart and a wonderful father today himself. >> interesting interview with mitt and ann romney. yeah. that's very deep. i would love to hear more from him about their -- their family is certainly a great force in this campaign. i do think it's interesting timing. >> you know, the thing is, chuck, also both campaigns, the president's campaign and mitt romney's campaign are so tightly controlled. >> yeah. >> access to these candidates are so tightly controlled. >> very limited. >> mika asks about -- mika asks about the the timing in part. any time you get any one of

these candidates with their wives in front of cameras, that's newsmaking in and of itself. >> you have it -- they don't want to waste what they say just throw interviews out there. every interview they grant has a purpose. talking to a specific demographic group. the obama campaign this way about where they move biden, where they move obama, when they give him out, why you see bide nen certain places, why you see ryan in certain places. they have gone on this route. they sit there and say, look, they're not into, quote, network rotations the way -- okay, it's nbc's turn, cbs's turn, abc's turn. no. they have so much data that they look at to see swing voting women in cleveland like to watch this program. that's where we're going to put the first lady or that's where we're going to put ann romney. >> i'm not going to argue about that. but i think it's a mistake to

make a leap to some cynicism in the interview. >> no, but where they put the interview. >> very much in their lives -- in politics when he was governor. and they're not -- she more than mitt kind of put it out there publicly. mitt is a more reserved guy. for all those reasons, okay, we're going to do a big feature interview with cbs. there's no script with at b3 we start -- they start talking about themselves and natural stuff happens. i think it was totally organic. >> i want to get back to something that jean tagene talkt earlier that this is a campaign not about barack obama but about mitt romney on both sides. both sides trying to define mitt romney. every campaign i've ever been invol involved with, gene, where the incumbent is running it's about whether you fire the guy that has the job and hire somebody new. it's just never about the opponent.

when i ran the first time it was about firing the guy in office. the next three times it was whether people were going to fire me or not. >> right. >> but that's the nature of campaigns. i just think the obama campaign, if they think they can make this all about mitt romney, they're making a terrible mistake, because there's something that happens when people walk into that booth that sometimes we miss here. >> no, that's true. but, look, i think both candidates have to make an affirmative message going forward. the conventions but president obama, yes, has to tell people why he deserves four more years in office. mitt romney has to make the case that he's going to make things better if he expects to become president. i think if he's -- look, i'm mr. fix-it guy without a specific progr program, without a credible way forward, he doesn't win. >> right. but you're on to something there. it's obviously a referendum on the incumbent. i am convinced every day in chicago at the obama headquarters there are two meetings. there's a meeting of what do we

do about romney? people are all high fiving, here say new negative ad. op-edded in this in 2003 and it's romney's fault. whoo hoo. then silence, you hear the clock ticking on the wall. not the fun meeting, not the meeting that everybody wants to go to but that's the meeting that will win or loose the election. >> you can win simply making it a referendum. presidential elections are different. it's a two-step process. process one is do i want to consider firing the incumbent? but process two is you have to make the decision to affirmatively hire the challenger. you don't necessarily make that same decision on congressional race. >> i don't think it's equal weight. >> no, but greater weight than any other election we hold in this country, i think. >> so here is the question, chuck todd, mark halpern, how does a president who has been in there 3 1/2 years move his

numbers in three months that stubbornly stick around 46, 47%, how does he move to 50.1%? you see that 46% number. and if i'm in chicago, i'm thinking, come on. be 48, be 49. four points, if he's still sitting at 46% in early october, that's a big challenge. >> same two-step process they've had all along, which is they must destroy mitt romney, make him an unacceptable alternative and use your three-year head start to eke out the lead in battleground state. >> chuck todd, eugene robinson stay with us. we'll be back with much more on "morning joe." [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool

if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... ...advanced headlights... ...and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ gives you a 50% annual bonus. and everyone, but her... likes 50% more cash. but, i have an idea. do you want a princess dress? yes how about some cupcakes? yes lollipop? yes! do you want an etch a sketch? yes! do you want 50% more cash?

no you got talent. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. with a 50% annual cash bonus it's the card for people who like more cash. what's in your wallet? i usually say that. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems...

... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today.

i know. it's a little early. i'm just taking a look. i'm just going to do it anyway. exactly. >> honestly, is this the first time you've ever done this in your life? >> are you putting peanut butter on my buttermilk pancakes? that is sacrilege.

>> very good at pancakes. >> they've done that a few time. >> did you see the wrist action on that? >> unbelievable. >> it has to be worth a point. >> very cautious. very cautious. >> by the way, just for the record, for everyone that's watching out there, larry kudlow. >> casual. >> he decided to come casual. this is palm beach. >> thurston howell iii just pulled up over here. >> where did you get that from, costco? >> the whole outfit from costco on the way over here. >> not. >> it's very ceo casual. >> thank you. >> everybody was a little disturbed, though, that you're wearing socks. we're not too sure why that is. gene is a southern guy nochlt socks. willie geist capitulated to the

socks. >> just like deniers. >> larry, are you feeling more excited in the legitimate way about mitt romney? >> i think he's doing well. love the paul ryan thing. we're all part of the jack kemp circle, original empower america. i was on the board when ryan was an intern. it's great for the republican message. it rejuvenates the party and i think it's actually rejuvenated mitt romney. >> you can see the difference in his campaign style. >> he would never have flipped those pancakes without ryan. >> no, never. >> but on message i want to make this point. ryan has a very strong growth message. ryan is a guy that says, look, unemployment is high. gdp is low. ryan is not even, in some sense, that political. he will join george w. bush for some of these problems also. but he's a reformer, tax reformer, spending reformer,

entitlement reformer and it gives the entire campaign a greater, stronger than anything they've had. >> so if he's an entitlement reformer, and i think he is, why is his ticket running 30-second ads on medicare that demagogue the issue, much like bill clinton did to us in 1995? >> you mean the $700 billion? >> yes, because medicare is going to bankrupt if we don't slow the rate of growth. >> i do believe medicare will bankrupt us. however, it's bad policy to take $700 billion and put it into obamacare. as you well know, the whole romney-ryan idea is to dismantle obamacare. over a period of time, polls are actually showing that people like ryan's plan, alternative plan, which is medicare advantage. when you get choices.

you have to stop the growth of the original medicare plan. no question about that. but the growth is already agreed to. half a percent above gdp. i don't think they're wrong. i think that $700 billion, switching it from medicare to obamacare -- >> they're just saying cut and romney is saying i'm going to restore all -- >> put every penny back. >> he's going to restore the $715 billion. that's all he's saying. if you read romney's own white paper he will say you're going to slow the growth, extend the retirement and take some clips out of the upper end people in medicare. that's in his white paper. regarding the -- >> why would you restore $715 billion of medicare advantage? why would you do that? >> medicare advantage, all the medicare providers, doctors, hospitals, clinics, they're not getting paid as it is now. they can't afford to take that hit. it's horrible policy. it's absolutely horrible policy. >> where do you get the next $715 billion? >> the next 30, 40, 50 years. >> we don't have 50 years.

>> we may. we don't know that. >> not of medicare. i don't mean to be sore with you, but it's maddening that republicans are playing bill clinton's game on medi-scare. >> i'm not going to go back and vet clinton or whatever. but the original clinton idea, as you know, with john who in those day was a democrat, to have choices the way congressmen and women have choices for their insurance plan. that's essentially what paul ryan is doing. you can't willy nily take $700 billion out, flip it over to obamacare and then call obamacare a balanced budget. you can't do that. to slow down -- you're talking about the extension of the retirement age, which i totally agree, has to take a long time. >> you agree that retirement age should be bumped up to 67, 69? >> 69, 70. i completely agree with that. i've interviewed romney many times. he has said that. the other component is the

revenue component. if you grow the economy, instead of 1.5%, if you grow the economy at 3%, 4%, which is what a realistic recovery would look like, you wouldn't be in such a hole right now in any of these entitlement plans and economic growth, which is a huge part of paul ryan's idea, is rubbing off nicely on mitt romney. >> are you more excited about paul ryan than mitt romney? >> don't make him answer that. >> that's my takeaway. >> he's still laughing. look at him. you know, john --, for everybody that says a vice president doesn't matter, i could just tell you personally for me, it does. >> yeah. >> maybe this is the first time it has happened but mitt romney, for me, was so ill defined ideologically. and i wanted to make sure we weren't going to get another big government republican in for eight years. but when he picked paul ryan, i actually -- i personally, and i

think larry, by laughing for five minutes definitely -- said okay, you know what? if he's willing to take that risk -- >> that's right. >> i feel a little more comfortable. >> that's right. look, i know we -- >> he wants to increase defense spending, not a big government conservative? >> i don't know. george w. bush said he was a small government conservative. >> he sure did. and ended up not being. >> look, i think there's no question that two things are both true. one thing that's true is that no one votes for the bottom of the ticket. no one does. no political science research in the world that shows anybody does that. vice presidential picks, which is what you're saying, reflect on the nominee. people vote the top of the ticket but they look at the choice that the person makes, whether it's dick cheney or al gore or sarah palin or whatever. it tells you something about the nominee and that can influence your vote. so the pick totally matters. it just doesn't matter on election day in that someone goes into the voting booth and

says i'm voting for paul ryan. i voted for mitt romney in part because he picked paul ryan. >> i think point two is correct. i think you're dead right on point two. point one, the political scientists will say, i think this is different this time. ryan is such an important personality and policy guy -- >> larry, there are not going to be anybody -- there is no one -- anybody who goes into a voting booth and votes for mitt romney for paul ryan is nuts. >> well, i don't know that. but all i'll say is right at the beginning, right at the beginning -- >> because he's going to make -- >> consonant play and a poll out of florida showed seniors supported the ryan care plan. that's big stuff. maybe on election day it will rub offment right now there's a trajectory going on and ryan is leading that trajectory. >> i'm getting ready for class. >> you are? are you getting a backpack? >> i understand you're a

professor. >> always. always. >> is there any preparation that i need to do for class? >> we could sit for a while. i could show you my file card. are you that kind of person that last night picked somebody else's notes? that's terrible. >> private office hours. >> stay away from that. >> need extra help. weekdays at 7:00 pm on cnbc. lay layer, i'larry, i'll see you in class. thank you. we'll be right back. ♪ why should saturday night have all the fun? get two times the points on dining in restaurants, with chase sapphire preferred.

why not get buried in something other than work? get two times the points on travel, with chase sapphire preferred.

welcome back to morning joechlt i'm bill karins. we're already starting to see some flooding and high tide in lake pontchartrain. the one tonight and tomorrow morning will probably be a lot worse than this. even though it's a tropical storm, it's a big storm. the biggest concern is storm surge flooding over the next 36 hours. an hour and a half from now, president obama will be making a statement from the white house regarding tropical storm isaac. let me show you the latest on this storm. still about 180 miles away from new orleans. the slow speed. this will be so painful to watch this storm over the next two to three days, only moving at seven

mps. it's still about 24 hours from being over the top of new orleans. it's not that strong. it hasn't become a hurricane yet. it's trying but has racked in some dry air. not very impressive. it's trying to intensify. as far as that forecast path it takes it past new orleans some time late tonight early tomorrow morning, going past new orleans about midday tomorrow. the biggest concerns again, high tide cycle tonight and tomorrow morning with storm surge flooding. that's one of the stories we'll be covering with this large storm, isaac. coming up next here on "morning joe," more with mika and joe, talking with the keynote speaker governor chris christie.

looking for a better place to put your cash? here's one you may not have thought of -- fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank, like no-fee atms, all over the world. free checkwriting and mobile deposits. now depositing a check is as easy as taking a picture. free online bill payments. a highly acclaimed credit card with 2% cash back into your fidelity account. open a fidelity cash management account today and discover another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. t dog.

every bite goes above and beyond the call of deliciousness. that's a big 10-4 kosher. with no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better-than-a-hot dog- hot dog.

like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. very excited. >> i think it's going to be

great. >> i'm going to have my popcorn ready. >> yes, i am. >> i'm going to have my bruce springsteen t-shirt on. >> governor chris christie addresses the nation when he delivers the republican national convention's keynote address. we spoke to him yesterday about his speech and a recent article questioning his confidence in mitt romney's chances this november. >> the new york post article today, you said it was shoddy reporting. it's also the headlines deeply personal. does that sting? >> i don't let it sting. i just don't. i talked to mika about this. and i just don't let it get to me anymore. because i understand that people who engage in that kind of stuff are so shallow and so narrow and don't understand the issues that go along with health. now i don't let it bother me. if i let it bothers me -- >> how angry does it make you, though? >> sometimes. i'm kind of immune to it now. because, you know, it sounds so

repetitive. and we know -- >> my kids -- we're having a discussion in our family about this. my daughter sent me the headline. she felt so terrible about it. it's just cruel. how do you handle it with your kids? >> i think the same thing. we really talk as a family about what really matters and we just don't let it bother us. we can't. otherwise, you know, we just focus on the positives. it's all walks of what we're doing with this job. our children have amazing opportunities and they know that. we remind them of that all the time. we don't really focus on the negatives. >> what we were talking about the book, i know the platform is dealing with the health crisis in this country, the obesity crisis and certainly is something you and i have talked about. it's not funny. >> no. >> it's like cancer. it's not a joke. >> no. >> yet it's still a headline like this. >> listen, if it wasn't that, it would be something else. right? if i went and lost 80 pounds in the next year, they would have something else to pick on me about. they would have some other kind

of starky headline, whether it's "the post" or any other publication or somebody on tv. you're in public life. that's what you've got to expect. if it isn't this, it would be my hair. if it isn't my hair, it would be my nose, my eyes. they find something caricature about you. i say to myself, i know who i am. that's why this stuff doesn't bother me all that much. when i was younger, it would bother me a lot more. i'm going to be 50 in two weeks, okay? >> no, you're not. >> right, joe? you grow much thicker skin. especially in this business, so many people say so many things about you. if you react to every one of them, you spend your whole life reacting. i don't want to be a reactor. i want to be a proactive person. >> backstage? okay, fine. we're going to go backstage and go to the new jersey convention. >> we have a much better spot. >> when you speak, what are you

going to be thinking about? >> i'm going to be thinking that i have an opportunity to talk about what that means for the rest of the country and try to connect with people. most importantly, those watching it on tv, this is what it means to have leadership of a republican government. you try to bring that message across. >> you talk about building a bench of governors. >> yes. >> people are talking about future presidential runs and you're always at the top of the list. i know mary pat really, really, really wants you to run for president. >> yeah, great. >> she pushes you every day, doesn't she? >> reporter: i have to fend her off. no, you know, i think -- i hope governor romney will be the president and we won't have to worry about a party nominee for 2020. that would be great. i've said all along if you think you can make a difference in the world, you step up for whatever

challenge is presented to you when you feel you can confront it. >> so there's no question you think you can win? >> absolutely. there's absolutely no question. it's silly. you know, the idea that -- if i made the decision and he made the decision and asked me to do that and i felt like that was the best chance i had to help our country, i would feel extremely confident. we didn't seek that position out. if the nominee of your party comes to you and asks you, that's very powerful, especially to look that person in the eye and say no. it's just contrary to who i am and the way i operate. >> the article is completely false? >> it's completely false. i spoke to reporters that day and said neither one of you have ever spoken to me. i don't know who your sources are. they had one good source whose number they had and never called

me. i could have straightened it out very quickly. >> don't embarrass your kid. >> i gave my son's high school commencement speech this year. >> so you already did? >> and here was the instruction. he said to me, be short and don't embarrass me. >> that's what i tell you all the time. >> i ignore you. >> six minutes. >> six minutes? >> six minute. >> that's impossible. >> how long will this one be? >> about 20. >> all right. ♪ ♪

[ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward.

it's bringing the future so i test... a lot. do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood. yeah, and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. yep. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? so testing is one less thing

i have to worry about today. great. call or click today and get strips and a meter free. test easy. check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

welcome back to "morning joe." thanks for the countdown, t.j. he puts down the cigarette and goes, you can go. what did you learn today? >> i learned that the sun can shine in tampa. >> what have you learned today? >> earlier in the show i said that the democrats were hemmed in by the hurricane. later this morning they announced robert gibbs, martin

o'malley, press conference on bane capitol. >> my goodness. how excited. what did you learn? >> "morning joe" is the place to be early in the morning, number one. more importantly, tampa is the place to be. >> there you go, from the man who put us here. sam stein, what did you learn? >> david brooks is making fun of me, i think. >> and also that we're making fun of the dodgers for taking that deal. what did you learn? >> willie geist sock capitulator. >> i know. willie is wearing socks. i have one friend here. >> are you sure he's your friend? you keep calling him your friend. are you his friend? >> i am. >> why? >> we go back to law school together. joe's a great guy, same guy. >> he's lying now. why is he lying? what did you learn today, willie? >> there are buckets of mika brzezinski pins all over the city of tampa. >> that's disturbing. >> that's massive.

lie, if it is way too early, what time is it? >> it is "morning joe." we'll see you back here in tampa. stick around. >> not normal. [ female announcer ] the power of green coffee extract is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy

with a new starbucks refreshers™, in three ways. natural energy from green coffee extract, only from starbucks.